-The Hindu Only if the Samajwadi Party-led coalition wins by a large margin can it be assured of government formation It is clear that the fierce electoral battle for Uttar Pradesh is mainly between the Akhilesh Yadav-led gathbandhan (coalition) and the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), even if it appears multi-cornered on paper. The failure of unity among supposedly secular parties against the BJP once again demonstrates not just their half-hearted...

-The Telegraph The dole of ghee, salt, gram and cash is likely to work with some segments of voters Bareilly: One-kilo packets of ghee, salt and black gram along with the 5kg rice or wheat provided free against ration cards. Mixed with a generous portion of the Karnataka hijab controversy. That’s the cocktail the BJP is serving in Uttar Pradesh to arrest the dent in its vote bank. “The Yogi Adityanath government has added...

-The Telegraph For the better-off upper castes, it has acquired the context of the safety of their sisters and daughters Bareilly, Rampur: Sitting outside a small medicine-cum-stationery shop at Khirka village in Bareilly district, Rakesh Gangwar, Ramdas Kashyap and Puranlal Gangwar unhesitatingly declare their support for the “phool” (lotus). Each lists the reasons almost in the same order, as though they had prepared beforehand for the question.   The top reason for all three —...

-News18.com The RBI has been mandated by the government to keep retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side  India’s retail inflation increased to 6.01 per cent in the month of January, driven by higher consumer goods and telecom prices along with a comparatively low rate a year ago, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday indicated. Inflation, as...

-The Hindu Business Line The textile industry’s vociferous demands will hit cotton farmers, who are facing the brunt of rising costs The recent rise in the price of cotton yarn seems to have hit the textile manufacturers hard, so, a large section of participants involved in value chain products of cotton has called on the government to take measures to arrest the price rise. While demanding higher taxes on cotton exports, they have...